Something to Believe in
by Alisha Black
Summary: A glimpse of the war and the heart ache it causes. When the price for freedom becomes to much to pay six lovers struggle to keep thier love alive. Phrophecies are revealed, some one turns to the dark side, and another comes back. HG DM towards the end
1. Default Chapter

A/N: A huge thanks to my marvelous beta, Madam Celeste  
  
"Oy, Harry! Wake up, mate!" Ron's voice seemed to echo through Harry's brain, moving at an alarmingly slow speed.  
  
"Wha---," he said thickly, through a mouth full of pillows.  
  
"We'll miss the train, it's half past six."  
  
"Gimmeaminute," Harry muttered incoherently.  
  
"Alright," Ron said reluctantly. "Just five mind you, Mum will kill me if you don't get out of bed."  
  
Harry heard the distinct soft click of the door being shut and Ron's large feet shuffling down the hall into the bathroom. He groaned loudly. If only Ron could understand what Harry was feeling, if only Harry could understand what Harry was feeling.  
  
Unhurriedly, Harry pulled the covers off and let the draft from the open window wake him up. He didn't want to get out of bed. He had felt that way all summer.  
  
It was as though he had merely existed for two months and no one understood. How could he share this with Ron or Hermione? How? Ron had all the love he needed as a child. Never once being deprived of love, never once wished that his aunt and uncle would love him only for a day on an imaginary birthday cake. And Hermione, finding comfort in books, books who couldn't feel, books who couldn't tell you they loved you, but her parents told her that.  
  
Neither of them had ever had any loss, their shares seemed to have been given to Harry who had already lost so much.  
  
Now Sirius was gone, there were times when Harry felt as though he couldn't breathe. Just when he thought he couldn't feel any worse or that he had the strength to move on, a fresh wave of guilt and grief struck him with full force.  
  
It was much like drowning or being suffocated. He couldn't feel anything but unbearable sadness and nobody had any idea what it was like! Nobody! He was numb, his senses were slowly ebbing away and Harry was powerless to stop it.  
  
Finally after much deliberation, Harry threw a protesting leg over the bed and stood. He could smell the rain thrrough Ron's open window. He walked over to it and looked down into the garden.  
  
If he weren't feeling so miserable Harry would have laughed. Ron, who had been trying to round up Crookshanks, had fallen face first in the mud and was swearing loudly while Hermione was shaking her finger at him for scaring her precious ginger cat.  
  
As it was though, Harry was feeling miserable. Grumbling, he stepped across the hall and into the bathroom for a quick shower.  
  
"Oh Harry, dear," Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, twenty minutes later, when he entered the small kitchen. "I was just going to wake you up myself. How did you sleep?"  
  
"Fine, thank you," he lied.  
  
"Do have some breakfast dear," she prodded.  
  
"No, thank you, Mrs. Weasley, I'm not hungry," he said tonelessly.  
  
"Nonsense, you haven't been eating at all this summer. How could you possibly not be hungry?"  
  
"Alright, just some toast then," he said with resignation in his voice.  
  
Molly Weasley turned her back to him while she did the dishes and frowned. 'Poor dear,' she thought miserably. She had been so worried about him at his Aunt and Uncle's that she had marked the days down on a calendar to when he could come and stay at the Burrow (after several, highly effective, safety charms) were placed on the property.  
  
Though, having Harry here didn't bring her any relief either. He wasn't himself, not even Quidditch brought him any sense of identity. She knew he wasn't sleeping well too, and that when he did it was like trying to wake the dead. Things only a mother could tell, and yes she did feel like his mother. It pained her to see him hurting as it would one her own children.  
  
The train station was crowded and noisy as ever as Harry, Hermione, and Tonks, who was their guard, and four of the Weasley's made their way to the barrier. Tonks and Ginny were chatting animatedly about a Weird Sisters concert that Mrs. Weasley had allowed Tonks to take Ginny to; while Ron and Hermione were getting into a heated discussion about who the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be.  
  
Harry pushed his cart through the barrier, followed by the rest in pairs, but did not stop to wait for them. He heaved his trunk onto the train and into an empty compartment before walking off the train and back onto the platform to say goodbye.  
  
After he had watched Mrs. Weasley give both of her children and Hermione a hug and kiss on the forehead she turned and squeezed Harry so tight he had trouble breathing.  
  
"I'll really miss you, too, Mrs. Weasley," he choked out, through winded gasps of air.  
  
Mrs. Weasley pulled away from him and wiped her now puffy eyes on the back of her hand.  
  
"You be sure to eat," she said sniffling. "And you three had better make sure he does," she said rounding on Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.  
  
Back on the train Ron and Hermione went to the prefect's compartment for a meeting for those who wanted the position of Head Girl or Boy.  
  
"Come on, 'Mione," Ron whined. "What if I don't want to become Head Boy?"  
  
"Don't be stupid Ron, every prefect wants to be Head Boy or Girl," she said before dragging him down the train.  
  
Harry would have smiled or even grinned at this, but once again, he wasn't in the mood. He walked down the train; hands shoved in his pockets and greeted some Hufflepuffs briskly before shoving the door of his compartment open.  
  
Only, his compartment wasn't empty. Sitting with her feet propped up on the seat, sat Luna Lovegood, reading what looked like a muggle romance novel.  
  
"Oh, hi," she said airily "I hope you don't mind, but everywhere else is full."  
  
"Not at all," Harry said though he didn't quite feel it.  
  
Harry sat down across from Luna just as the train began to move. He couldn't help but notice the strange array of clothing she was wearing. Muggle clothing, or at least some of it had to be. For instance, he knew that Converse High Tops were a muggle brand, he had seen teenagers in Little Winging wearing them. And that skirt she was wearing, a plaid school girl skirt that came down to her pale knees was a muggle fashion statement. But her shirt stated, 'Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans' on it, in letters that were making a feeble attempt to turn from emerald to purple and back again.  
  
"Like my clothing do you?" she asked abruptly.  
  
"I wasn't really---,"  
  
"You were staring" Luna said blandly.  
  
Had he been staring?  
  
"Sorry," he said and truly meant it, he hated it when people stared at him. "I didn't mean---".  
  
"Oh that's alright," she said nonchalantly. "Most people stare at my clothing, it could be seen as a bit strange I suppose."  
  
"Are those muggle clothes, Luna?" he asked against his better judgment.  
  
"Not all of them."  
  
"Well where, I mean, when, what I mean to say is where did you get muggle clothing?"  
  
"My cousin," She said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
"Cousin?" He asked.  
  
"She's Muggle Born, you see."  
  
"Luna," Harry said. "I thought you were a Pureblood."  
  
"Mum and Dad were a witch and wizard," she said "But my Mum's sister married a muggle who had a daughter already."  
  
"And the daughter turned out to be a Muggle Born witch?" Harry asked.  
  
"Something like that," she said airily, "although I think that she may not even be Uncle Tad's real daughter," she furrowed her invisible eyebrows, "first marriage," she said.  
  
"So, how are you?" she asked setting her book down. "You know..."  
  
"Oh," Harry said, his heart wrenching horribly. "Not good," he blurted out. Everyone had been too scared over the summer to ask him about it and now Luna was.  
  
"After my mum died it felt good to talk about it" she said "Do you want to talk about it Harry?"  
  
No! No, he did not want to talk about it, especially with someone he barely knew.  
  
"Yes" he said before he could stop himself.  
  
And before he knew it, he was telling Luna everything. How Sirius was the only parent he had ever known. And how he knew that Sirius had been his last hope for a parent, and how weird the Dursleys had been when they had said something about Harry's convict Godfather. And Harry had told them. He had expected them to say 'Good riddance', or for uncle Vernon to say something to the effect of 'Just one less weirdo in the world'. And how they hadn't said that at all; and how when neither Dudley nor Uncle Vernon was looking when Aunt Petunia had squeezed Harry's shoulder.  
  
Luna had been a very good audience and had not spoken until the very end. She looked knowingly at him.  
  
"That's how I felt when my mum died," she said sadly, "the part about not being able to breathe."  
  
Harry watched her very closely as something happened that was much unexpected. Luna rose out of her seat, kneeled in front of Harry, put a hand on the back of his neck, and pressed her mouth against his.  
  
Harry froze for a second; his last memories of kissing were unpleasant as they involved Cho. Luna was kissing him on the mouth, hard on the mouth. Harry closed his eyes to enjoy the strange moment.  
  
But just as he did this Luna pulled away and began to read her book once more. Harry sat there stunned he opened his mouth as though to ask Luna about the kiss but at that moment Hermione and Ron walked in.  
  
"Oh, Ron, they were not," Hermione said rolling her eyes.  
  
"They were so!" he said hotly, "they were groping each other in public! They were all over each other."  
  
"Ron," Hermione said gently, "they were only holding hands."  
  
"They were kissing, too!"  
  
"That was peck on the cheek was hardly a kiss!"  
  
"It was disgusting!" he said, revolted.  
  
"What's disgusting?" Ginny had just walked in the compartment with Dean, following closely, behind.  
  
Now, Harry knew what he was talking about. It was no secret that Ron didn't approve of his sister's relationship with Dean. In fact, they had had a row about it three weeks ago, that had resulted in several broken dishes.  
  
Had it been three weeks ago? Harry tried to remember the blur of the summer when he was interrupted by Ron's shaking his arm to get his attention.  
  
"See what they're doing?" he hissed so only Harry could hear him. "See?!"  
  
Harry looked up to see what Ron was talking about and then he too rolled his eyes. Ginny was sitting on the floor at Dean's feet with her head resting on his knee while he stroked her hair tenderly.  
  
Harry just shrugged at Ron who was turning red in the ears. He was about to point out that Ginny and Dean weren't doing anything criminal when the compartment door slid open.  
  
Draco Malfoy stood with his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, who looked as big as ever standing on either side of him.  
  
Everyone in the compartment went silent.  
  
"So, Potter," Malfoy started, his voice trembling with rage. "Heard about your Godfather, it was all over the paper. His death was in vain, you know."  
  
Harry stood up; even Luna had put her book down and was watching in confusion.  
  
"He was like a father to you, wasn't he, Potter?" Malfoy drawled on the word 'father'. This made Harry burn.  
  
"At least he didn't die in prison, Malfoy, which is what's going to happen to your Father."  
  
"How does it feel? To lose two fathers in vain Potter? Knowing they died for a lost c---".  
  
Draco had only stopped because Harry had lunged at him and begun punching him on every part of his head that he could reach. Crabbe and Goyle had tried to yank him off but Dean, Ron, and Neville, who had just arrived, jumped in and soon the entire train was coming to see what was happening.  
  
Finally, the brawl was broken up by several D.A members who used numerous stunning spells to bring the fighting to an end.  
  
Malfoy's robes were drenched in blood coming from his nose that looked as though it were broken and Neville, Ron, and Dean had several cuts and bruises.  
  
Harry had an eye that was swelling and shut rapidly, and Crabbe had several purple things sprouting from his hair line from where Neville had cursed him.  
  
The D.A members managed to talk everyone into taking their seats and Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle by threatening to hex them if they didn't.  
  
"Man!" Ron said loudly, sitting back down. "I'm glad Malfoy's dad is in prison."  
  
"Malfoy probably doesn't feel that way, in fact he feels that his father doesn't deserve to be in prison at all." Hermione pointed out diplomatically.  
  
"Hermione!" Ron said in utter repugnance. "He tried to kill us last year! How can you say he doesn't deserve to be in prison?!"  
  
"I didn't say that, I said that's how Malfoy feels and that was the point to begin with." She snapped.  
  
By the time they had reached Hogwarts, Hermione had expertly healed their wounds so they wouldn't be questioned by suspicious teachers.  
  
"Who is that?" Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione as they entered the Great Hall.  
  
Harry looked up at the staff table to see what Ron was talking about. Sitting at the head table in deep conversation with Professor Snape sat a batty but slightly young looking witch in deep sapphire robes. She was interesting to look at, Harry noted. She had long light brown and grey hair that came to the middle of her back in an extended braid. Her eyes were large and tired looking and she was wearing a necklace on a piece of twine that looked as though it was a butter beer cap.  
  
Harry stole a glance at Luna. He expected her to be eating or joking with her friends but she wasn't. She was staring at him. Their eyes met and Harry was mesmerized by her, Luna, peculiar Loony Luna Lovegood. Why? He couldn't say. It must have been the most unlikely match in history but Harry didn't care.  
  
As he stared, her eyes seemed to have gone beyond the expanses of this world and into the next, and on forever.  
  
That night Harry lay in bed but did not sleep. He could only think of her. If he was falling in love it was the strangest feeling he had ever experienced. He felt as though today had all been some strange dream and that tomorrow he would wake up back in the Burrow.  
  
His eyes began to droop and he finally fell asleep, and for the first time in a long time his dreams did not haunt him.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
The house is exactly the way it was when he left it. There were the Persian rugs, the paneled rooms, and the portraits of some sleeping ancestors. There was a drawing room that could fit several other drawing rooms inside of it. He runs a filthy finger over one of the polished table tops. The table had been given to them by one of Narcissa's great aunts, so they could hardly have refused it, however much Lucius had wanted to incinerate it after stubbing his toe on the polished legs. Now, Lucius just looked down on it sadly, a reminder of better times.  
  
DING  
  
Lucius nearly jumped out of his skin.  
  
DING  
  
Only the clock.  
  
It is nine o' clock. The guards haven't noticed yet but they will. He picked up his speed knowing that he will meet no one and almost wishing that he would. Draco was still in school and Narcissa was in France. He hated having to put his wife through the humiliation of another ministry raid, but it would be inevitable after the guards discovered his escape.  
  
He came to Narcissa's dressing room with out really meaning to. This too made him sigh. It wasn't a large room, it was almost circular and had large half oval windows, some of them stained glass, some of them looked onto the rose gardens. Her perfume bottles lined in neat rows on a table next to her vanity which was adjacent to four large, magically enhanced wardrobes. They had made love in one of those wardrobes once, a long time ago.  
  
Lucius lingered for a moment, inhaling her scent. Narcissa. How he had missed her while he was away. Some nights he would almost pretend that he was merely away on business or that she was next to him. Her soft porcelain skin caressing his own. He was glad now, as he rested his hands on a set of her dress robes that had been thrown over the back of a chair, that she had not been involved with Death Eater activities. She was delicate, a lady in every sense of the word. A supporter of the cause, yes, but not a Death Eater.  
  
Next, he went to his bedroom. He looked around and sighed heavily, nothing had changed, not a thing. The beautifully polished furnisher, and the high posts of his bed. He lay down wearily for a moment; taking it all in, Draco had been conceived on this bed. In the throws of passion, one night him and Narcissa had become very drunk, it had been three weeks before the wedding. It had been her first time. Lucius nearly groaned at the thought. Other times came to him too, sweeter, sober times, times that left him dizzy with feeling, times that left him breathless with anticipation, times that were no longer. He raked his hands over the bed spread the heavy green silk that he had slept under so many times with Narcissa's limb entangled with his own.  
  
His eyes began to leak, he could not bear to stay. He briskly walked over to his own wardrobe and selected robes that would go unnoticed if missing. He could not afford to let the ministry know that he had been there. They would of course look, but they need never know that he had been there.  
  
He walked back down the hall, his mind wandering when he came to an abrupt stop in front of his son's room. Light was flickering through a crack in the door. Curious. Surely it wasn't yet time for the Christmas holidays, and even if it were, Draco wouldn't come here; he would go to France with his mother.  
  
Lucius heard movement inside the room. He stiffened, if Draco was home, Lucius couldn't let himself be seen. Silently he reached into his soiled robes and removed a small vile, uncorked it, and drank half of the contents. His skin bubbled and felt as though it were on fire for a moment, and then nothing. He was invisible.  
  
Lucius let his hand rest on the door handle and turned as silently as possible. Draco was home, but thankfully his back was turned to the door, so he did not notice as Lucius slipped in and closed it again.  
  
Draco was facing the fire place and ringing his hands nervously. Nervously? How very un-Malfoy of him. Lucius's eyes narrowed, what is Draco doing home?  
  
Lucius did not have to wait very long for an answer. In a whirl of green and purple sparks something very large shot out of the fireplace at Draco's feet. Lucius watched as his son rushed forward and picked that something, or rather someone up.  
  
The reason that Draco had come home so unexpectedly early, had been answered.  
  
A girl in her Hogwarts robes stood up gracefully and smiled at him. Draco smiled back, leaned in, and kissed her. Lucius let out a silent sigh of relief. His son wasn't homosexual, thank the gods. He had so feared that he was.  
  
Now, Lucius looked on in pure curiosity. She wasn't particularly pretty, well perhaps pretty wasn't the word. She was pretty, but not stunning. Draco could have done so much better, but Lucius couldn't be too disappointed, at least she wasn't a boy.  
  
He watched them speak in low tones to one another for a while. While Lucius couldn't catch all of what was being said, he caught some phrases.  
  
"No one is here?" the girl asked.  
  
Draco shook his head and said something into her ear that Lucius didn't hear.  
  
The girl blushed.  
  
Draco smirked and reached a hand around to undo the binding of her hair.  
  
Now the strange girl shook out her hair in waves of brown and whispered something into the younger Malfoy's ear.  
  
It was Draco's turn to blush. He covered it noticeably (it will come in time my son) Lucius thought, Draco's hand pulled her in by the small of her back and she gasped.  
  
Well done, Lucius thought with a smirk of his own.  
  
They were moving ever closer to the four poster bed. Lucius was suddenly reminded of himself and Narcissa at their age.  
  
The two teenagers fumbled with the clasps on each others robes inexpertly. Draco was still smiling at this mysterious girl with affection in his eyes. But why had he never mentioned this before. Had they just recently formed an attachment? No, Draco was now bringing hand up to softly stroke her cheek, it seemed as though he was in love. Draco, in love.  
  
Lucius smiled fondly. His son was in love.  
  
But who was this girl? And why had Draco never mentioned her before? She looked slightly familiar but he couldn't quite place her. She couldn't be in Slytherin. Was she on another house's Quidditch team? Somehow she didn't seem like the athletic type. Her robe had just slid off of her shoulders revealing her uniform. At least she wasn't fat, although her hips and bust were very prominent.  
  
Who is that girl? Lucius thought. Maybe I know her family. But that wasn't it either, she looked so familiar that he had to have seen her somewhere before. Lucius began to rack his brain of all of the school functions and social gatherings where he might have seen her before when a thought came to him. A horrible, terrible, mind numbing thought.  
  
It simply couldn't be. But the more Lucius looked on, the more he knew. That brush of hazelnut curls, the way her shoulders hunched slightly, the way a librarians might after years of carrying heavy volumes. But it couldn't be. No, it wasn't, he had raised his son better, he would follow in his foot steps. She merely resembled her that was all. He shook his head mightily and shuddered.  
  
When Lucius looked again the two had slipped under the comforter, presumably naked. The girl said something in a very bossy voice about protection and Draco said he didn't want to use any.  
  
"Draco," the girl said severely. His son grumblingly complied.  
  
Lucius's heart stopped.  
  
He knew who she was; his worst nightmares were coming true.  
  
The girl's name was Granger, Hermione Granger, the mudblood friend of Potter's. He would have preferred him to be gay. His son, his heir who carried in his veins thousands of years of pure undiminished blood, was fucking a mudblood under his roof! Was in love with one!  
  
Lucius stood there, unseen and horrified as they fornicated.  
  
He wanted to kill her, more so than he wanted to kill Harry Potter himself. But not now, no, she wasn't worth his exposure and reinstatement back in Azkaban. He wanted to lunge at her and choke her until she coughed her filthy blood onto his carpet. But he didn't, he simply stood there listening to their labored breathing, unseen in a dark corner.  
  
When they were done, which wasn't long after they had started, Draco collapsed on top of her and blew the candle out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry yawned and stretched in the arm chair by the fire. His homework was nearly finished and it was only four o'clock. This could have been a record.  
  
He looked to his left, his best friend, Ron Weasley, was having no such luck. He kept writing things and promptly scratching them out with his quill, muttering curse words under his breath.  
  
"Damn Snape!" he said hotly.  
  
"What's up?" Harry asked.  
  
"This potions essay is what's up," Ron growled. "I can't make any sense of what to write!"  
  
"Don't know what to tell you, mate," Harry said finishing the last four sentences of his transfiguration homework. "Hermione helped me with mine."  
  
Ron let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Where is Hermione anyway? I haven't seen her all day."  
  
"Dunno," Harry said "I haven't seen her either. Library, maybe." He added as an after thought.  
  
"No, I went down there earlier. Madam Pince says she hasn't been there all day."  
  
"She hasn't been in the girls dormitories either," said a voice from behind them.  
  
Ron and Harry both whipped around to see Ginny standing behind them dressed in all muggle clothing.  
  
"How do you know?" Ron snapped. "And what are you wearing?"  
  
"I wanted help on my summoning charms, and I've just been on a date."  
  
"A date!" Ron roared "with who!"  
  
"Ernie McMillan, not that it's any of your business, Ronald," she said coolly.  
  
"I thought you were dating Dean Thomas," He said angrily.  
  
"I was," she said pulling her bright red hair into a loose bun. "But I decided that I like Ernie much better."  
  
"Oh, so it's Ernie now is it?" He seethed.  
  
"That is his name," Ginny said more coolly, still.  
  
Harry sat there for a moment or two listening to Ron's tirade about Ginny's numerous boyfriends before standing up and saying that he fancied a walk. He doubted, as he slouched through the portrait hole that either of them had heard one word he had said.  
  
Harry stepped out in the corridor and sighed. He could go to the library, but he had just finished his weekend homework and didn't much feel like studying. He could practice quidditch, but just remembered that the Ravenclaw team had booked the field that afternoon. He could look for Hermione, she had been gone all day, and he was starting to worry about her. That was what he'd do, he would look for Hermione.  
  
Looking for Hermione turned out to be more taxing than he thought.  
  
Although Ron had already told him that she wasn't in the library he headed off in that direction anyway. This turned out to be a mistake. Upon arrival of the library he stopped and asked Madam Pince if had seen Hermione that afternoon.  
  
"No, I have not!" she said hotly.  
  
"It is not my job, Mr. Potter, to keep track of a student's whereabouts in this school! I am the Librarian! Not a babysitter!"  
  
Harry, after fleeing the Library, had a rather nasty run in with Peeves, the school poltergeist.  
  
Peeves, who had been throwing Filch's cleaning supplies into the vanishing cabinet, tried to upturn a bucket of mop water on Harry' head.  
  
Harry had dodged the flying bucket just in time for it to splash on Mrs. Norris, who went hissing off, behind a tapestry to find her owner. Harry had wisely skirted off down another corridor just in time for him to hear the unmistakable wheeze of the care taker.  
  
Harry pocked his head around a corner to see if the coast was clear when he heard,  
  
"Harry, hey Harry," he turned to say hi to fellow Gryffindor, Seamus Finnegan, coming down the corridor.  
  
"Hey Seamus," Harry said.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Seamus asked.  
  
"Looking for Hermione." He said. "Have you seen her?"  
  
"Yeah," Seamus said thoughtfully, "thought I saw her go down to see Hagrid, but that was hours ago, I mean she should have been back by now. Why are you looking for her, anyway?" he asked.  
  
"Something to do," Harry said nonchalantly.  
  
"Maybe Ron knows where she is, I know, how he fancies her and all," Seamus's words had barely sunken in when he said, "Well, I have a date with Lavender, so I'll see you around."  
  
Ron? Like Hermione?  
  
Harry thought back, yes, Ron did like Hermione. He racked his brain, there had been more than enough incidents to prove this true. The Yule Ball, where Ron had all but beaten Viktor Krum to a bloody pulp for taking Hermione, and the way he had looked at her. Last school year, when Hermione had kissed Ron on the cheek before his first Quidditch match. And it wasn't only the big things, but the subtle things that no body would notice unless they were really looking, the way they argued and ....  
  
Harry couldn't think any more. He knew he should be thrilled for them, but... If his two best friends became more, where did that leave him? He couldn't go to Hogsmeade with them anymore. Not that he wouldn't be welcome, he just wouldn't feel right about it, like he was intruding on their relationship.  
  
He had been considering going down to Hagrid's to find her, but he was too depressed. He wondered aimlessly around the castle for the better part of an hour. Pausing here and there, once to talk to Nearly Headless Nick, another time to dodge three first years that had enchanted what looked like muggle roller skates to fly, and were zooming down the hall at top speed.  
  
Harry paused some time after visiting the owlery at a large oak door at the topmost part of the castle.  
  
The original astronomy tower.  
  
The new one was currently on the other side of the school, and has been placed there when professor Trelawney took residents beneath the original and had claimed, with much dramatic flailing of her long arms, that the sounds of students snogging "clouded her inner eye".  
  
He didn't know why but he felt compelled to push the door open. It was much older than the new one. The new astronomy tower was built out of white marble and the door opened to a large circular flat, ideal for star gazing. This one however, opened to an ancient looking stone stair case.  
  
Harry climbed the staircase attentively and stopped dead as his eyes reached level with the floor at top.  
  
A girl was sitting on the edge of the rail the over looked the grounds with her back to him. The sun was blazing madly, so it made her look almost orange.  
  
He was sure he had found Hermione. But what was she doing all the way up here? And why was she sitting on the edge of the astronomy tower stories above the ground? He ran the rest of the way up to the top.  
  
"Her--,"  
  
He stopped short.  
  
The girl that had turned around was not Hermione, it was Luna Lovegood. Harry didn't know quite what to say, he had not seen her since that day on the train where se had kissed him, and now felt incredibly awkward when she was around.  
  
"Hello Harry," she said.  
  
"Oh, Luna," he said panting slightly. "I thought you were Hermione."  
  
"No," she said. "Hermione isn't here."  
  
"Have you seen her?" Harry said desperately. "I've been looking for her for an hour."  
  
"She isn't here," Luna repeated.  
  
"I know," Harry said irritated. "but do you know where she is?"  
  
"Not here," she said peacefully.  
  
"I know she's not here," Harry said through gritted teeth.  
  
"I don't think you do," Luna said "She isn't here, in school."  
  
"Of course she is," Harry said, unless...  
  
"Luna," he said urgently, "she isn't, nothing," he sputtered.  
  
"She'll be back this evening," Luna said.  
  
"It isn't even a Hogsmeade weekend!" Harry flustered. "Where did she go, is she in any trouble?"  
  
"No," Luna said peacefully. "She's with on a date."  
  
"A date!" Harry exclaimed, sounding uncannily like Ron. "With who? I thought her and Ron---,"  
  
"No, she hasn't liked him for months."  
  
"She hasn't?" Harry asked bewildered.  
  
"No," she said serenely.  
  
"Then who?"  
  
But Luna didn't answer, she merely shrugged.  
  
"Luna," Harry started, "what are you doing here? It's freezing outside." That was true; it was one of those clear icy days just before snow.  
  
"Oh, it's Mum's birthday today," she said sadly. "So, I thought I'd come up here and think."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," Harry said looking at the tops of his shoes. He knew exactly how she felt.  
  
"It's alright," she said. "Do you want to stay? There's going to be a sunset in a moment," she was looking at him hopefully, her large eyes round.  
  
"Oh," he started, he didn't know if what he wanted was to watch a sunset with Luna Lovegood. "Okay."  
  
For the better part of twenty minutes they watched as the sun began to sink slowly towards the edge of the forest before Luna spoke.  
  
"So, are you better?" she asked.  
  
"Wha---," he started, "oh, uh yeah, loads," he lied.  
  
"You're not," she said matter of factly, "but you will be."  
  
"Luna," he said sharply. "Why do you ask questions when you already know the answer?"  
  
"Oh, I don't know," she said, swinging one leg over a battlement. "Because I want you to talk about it, I know you haven't been." She added slyly.  
  
"How'd you know that?" he snapped.  
  
"Inner eye," she said stretching.  
  
Harry snorted.  
  
"Luna," he said, "I wish you wouldn't sit there." He couldn't help but noticing that they were several stories high, and one slip would indeed be fatal.  
  
"Why?" she asked "I come here all the time." She stretched even more dramatically, only this time she stretched so quickly that she lost her balance.  
  
Harry watched as in slow motion, her eyes became unnaturally large and her mouth shaped itself into an "o" of surprise. She started to slip, slowly at first. Then, on instinct, Harry reached an arm around her waist and heaved her back over the wall and she came tumbling back down on him.  
  
Harry lay flat on his back and opened his eyes to see a very startled looking Luna atop him.  
  
His reaction was immediate.  
  
Later, he would ask himself why he didn't use his wand levitate her, but not now. No, now, he reached a hand up to her face and brushed his fingers through her dishwater blond hair. She only looked at him, her large eyes the color of the lake on cloudy days. In that instant, Harry could not think why he had ever seen her as anything but perfection. The Mother Goddess herself, looking out through Luna's protuberant eyes.  
  
Softly, gently, he sat up. Luna was still half way on his lap, his legs were falling asleep but he didn't care.  
  
Their eyes locked, in an infinite dance of caresses and soft longing. He reached out again, again his hand reaching through her hair, but this time he pulled her to him. Her face was now less than an inch away, and he brought his lips down onto hers.  
  
This was nothing like the kiss they had shared on the train. It was drawn out. It was a composure of lips and crisp night that was over falling.  
  
Harry didn't make it back to his dormitory until very late.


	2. For the cause

Disclaimer: I own nothing  
  
Chapter one: For the cause  
  
Hermione choked and nearly spit her pumpkin juice onto the paper. She must have been hallucinating it couldn't possibly be true.  
  
She blinked, and rubbed her eyes with her finger tips.  
  
**Lucius Malfoy cleared of charges**  
  
A picture of the platinum haired wizard smiled coolly back at her, looking down his nose from the surface of her kitchen table.  
  
"Hello 'mione" Hermione looked up from her paper. Ginny Weasely had just entered the room. She was wearing a muggle scarf and a grin.  
  
"Is there any hot water left over from your tea?" she asked spotting Hermione's half empty mug of tea.  
  
Hermione didn't answer; her mouth was still hanging slightly open.  
  
Ginny furrowed her red eyebrows.  
  
"What's up?" she asked  
  
Hermione just pushed the paper towards her in disgust.  
  
Ginny picked it up and paled.  
  
"There mad!" she exclaimed loudly "positively mad!"  
  
"Who's mad?" Ernie McMillan walked into the room, his hair still damp from a shower.  
  
Now Hermione had a pretty good idea of why Ginny was grinning.  
  
Ernie picked up the paper; "Bloody hell!" he swore.  
  
His eyes scanned the paper reading phrases aloud in utter repugnance.  
  
"A serous miscarriage of justice, said minister Fudge yesterday. 'Lucius Malfoy has always been an upstanding citizen who only happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time'"  
  
Ginny snorted  
  
"Serous miscarriage of justice is right" she sputtered "he escaped from Azkaban three years ago and has been on the run ever since! And they let him off the hook! This is unbelievable!"  
  
Ernie shook his head in agreement.  
  
"Hey Hermione," he said seeing the look on her face "it's not like he's going to come after you, he can't afford to get caught right now. "  
  
"Yeah," Ginny chimed in "he won't come near you or Ron"  
  
"I'm fine Gin" she snapped "and even if he does I can handle it" Hermione marched huffily into her bedroom and slammed the door, thoroughly irritated.  
  
It really wasn't Ginny's fault, but it had just goaded her into anger. Not the comment about Lucius Malfoy coming near her and Ron, but just about Ron in general. She knew it was wrong to take out on Ginny, but she was her flat mate, and Ron's sister.  
  
Hermione lay back on her bed, holding back the burning tears. It wasn't Ron's fault either, she told herself, it's mine. It was her fault.  
  
It had happened five months ago. Shortly after Ginny had graduated Hogwarts and come to live in London with Hermione. Ron, Harry, and of course Ernie, had helped Ginny and Hermione move into their new flat. Ron had been hinting shamelessly for weeks that he liked her.  
  
Hermione had not wanted to say no, he was her best friend, and yes, there had been a time when she had fancied him. But now things were so much different. They no longer went to school together; they had none of the same interests. But Hermione knew that these weren't really the reason she didn't want to dater Ron, the real reason, the reason lurking there, when ever she held his hand was Draco.  
  
Just thinking his name sent shivers down Hermione's spine. They had called it quits four weeks before her. When their situation had become too precarious to carry on.  
  
The tears were now coming in torrents, splashing down the sides of her face.  
  
'oh Draco' she thought  
  
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK  
  
"Not now Gin" she shouted at the door  
  
"It's me" said the muffled voice of Ron  
  
Hermione groaned into her pillow. "Let me come in?" he said "I heard what happened..."  
  
Hermione rose from her bed and swung the door open. Ron pulled her into a chocking hug and began to pet the crown of her head.  
  
"It's all right 'mione, that git won't come after us"  
  
Ron had stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. He brought Hermione down next to him on the bed making soft shushing noises into her hair.  
  
"I'm not upset about that Ron" she said mournfully "It's just what set it off"  
  
Ron gave her a confused look, idiot, she thought.  
  
"Did you hear about Malfoy?" he asked by way of changing the subject.  
  
Hermione's brows furrowed,"Ron," she started "the entire article was about him"  
  
"No" he said "not the article, dad told me about it  
  
"Something else about Lucius Malfoy?" she asked  
  
"No, Draco"  
  
"Draco?" she said  
  
"Yeah," Ron said thickly "He's engaged! Ol' Lucius made it an arranged marriage."  
  
Hermione had a horrible dropping sensation in her stomach. This made sense, "to precarious to carry on" he had said, and he sounded so sincere! She had believed him, "but he was telling the truth" said a horrible little voice in her head. "It would be much too precarious to carry on with the little woman hanging around. The pureblooded daughter of a Death Eater, no doubt."  
  
"'Mione?" came Ron's voice "you're not still upset about Lucius are you? You know he wouldn't dare come after you. Not with an auror trainee in the house, and you in healing school, and besides, he can't blow his cover now- "  
  
"Ron," she interrupted "though I have no uncertainty of Ginny's auror abilities, Lucius Malfoy is an experienced Death Eater. I severely doubt that he will hesitate to kill us both because she is in school to become an auror"  
  
Ron's face palled with understanding, he opened his moth to speak but Hermione cut him off.  
  
"But you are right; he can't afford to blow his cover now"  
  
Ron was silent for a moment, his freckled face plagued with terrible truth. Hermione watched him, no; she would not give him comfort now. He must learn to be strong, for the cause. They would undoubtedly loose friends, family, and Hermione doubted that all nine Weasley's would still be standing when the dust settled on the final battle field.  
  
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK  
  
"Ron?" came a voice through the door, it was Harry. "We're going to the Three Broomsticks, do two want to come? Get your mind off stuff?"  
  
Ron looked at Hermione hopefully. She didn't want to go, to go as Ron's girlfriend when she was thinking of someone else, to go and pretend that life was just peachy when she'd rather spend the evening brewing a poison to kill herself. No, she did not want to go. But as soon as the thoughts came to her mind, she could not stay. The walls in her room seemed to be closing in on her, her mind swam; she could not be alone, not now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry apperated back to his flat to change. His mind was weighed down with thought, 'poor 'mione' he thought. He would ask Ginny about her in class on Monday.  
  
Ginny, he thought. An amused smile lingered on his mouth momentarily. She had become one of his best friends, the sister he never had. Ron would always be his best mate, but Gin wasn't nearly as thick as Ron, and he saw her every day in Auror training. Yeah, Ginny would know what was going on with Hermione these days. He knew that her Healer training must be taking a tole on her, and the war... He didn't want to think about it right now.  
  
He opened the door to his flat and froze.  
  
He wasn't alone, he could sense it. He pulled his wand from his cloak pocket and shut the door behind him.  
  
There was light on down the narrow hall from his front door, the kitchen light. 'What intruder would be so stupid?' He thought.  
  
He crept down the hallway painfully aware of the sound of his own breathing, his footsteps.  
  
He rounded the corner of his kitchen and gasped a sigh of relief. Luna. He had forgotten that she was making him dinner tonight and instantly felt guilty for making other plans.  
  
She hadn't noticed his presence yet.  
  
She was standing in front of the stove barefoot, a cook book levitating in front of her, and stirring a large pot of what smelled like marinara sauce. Her dishwater blonde hair was as long as ever and trailing down her back in waves.  
  
Harry cleared his throat loudly. Instead of jumping however, Luna looked over her left shoulder as if she had just heard the door bell.  
  
Her large light cerulean eyes softened.  
  
"Hello" she said dreamily "I thought I'd make pasta tonight"  
  
"Hey "he said before kissing her on the mouth. "D'you mind if we eat fast? I sort of made plans for us to have drinks with Ron and Hermione and them"  
  
"No," she said plainly "I don't mind, actually spaghetti is good for eating fast. And any way father has had me doing this article on heliopaths you know, and it's really good to get out."  
  
Harry smiled at Luna and sat down at his kitchen table, watching her. The way her robes rested at the top of her bare feet, the way her nose crinkled and her pale eye brows seemed to come together in concentration for a second.  
  
Harry had to turn in his seat to look at what she was seeing. He looked through the window when he saw it; a large misshapen object, nearly transparent in the overcast sky. The object was drawing ever closer to the window and Harry was almost about to ward his flat when he realized what it was: Hedwig.  
  
Hastily he opened the window for his owl as she swept in and dropped the large package on the kitchen table, knocking everything (including Luna's large dragon hide purse) to the ground.  
  
Harry tried to hide his agitation from Hedwig, as she had been out of temper with him for some time. It seemed as though she did not like having Luna around for competition.  
  
Grudgingly he repaired the pieces of the vase that had been smashed with a flick of his wand and then began to gather some spare pieces of parchment. He had never been extremely organized.  
  
He reached for Luna's purse and stopped. Some of the contents had spilled out, including; her wand, a quill, and (his heart held still) a small velvet jewelry box.  
  
Just large enough to hold a ring.  
  
He looked at Luna, but she was busy making dinner and did not notice him on the floor, gaping like an idiot.  
  
Looking at her once more, just to be sure she wasn't looking, he reached for the box.  
  
It was five diamonds connected on a golden band.  
  
Why would she have an engagement ring? Was she seeing some one else? Did she think that Harry was going to ask her to marry him? A thousand things whirled through Harry's mind, a thousand images of Luna in a wedding dress.  
  
He hurriedly sapped the lid closed and shoved the box back in her bag.  
  
Marriage, he thought numbly.  
  
I

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

t was late in the afternoon when Ginny and Ernie apperated to the Three Broomsticks. The sky was heavy and dark, and the lanterns on the street had already been lit.  
  
Ginny pulled her hood down and shook out her red main. Ernie smiled at her and took her cloak and hung it on a peg.  
  
Her heart contracted, 'I love you' she thought.  
  
"Oy, Gin!" the voice of her brother sailed across the pub  
  
She looked in the direction of the voice. Sitting at a large table were Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Luna.  
  
Ginny smiled as she sat opposite of Hermione. She was so glad that Hermione had finally decided to give Ron a chance. Ginny knew that Hermione had been seeing some one before (although Hermione would never admit to it) and she suspected that it had gone horribly wrong.  
  
Her mind however was on different things, more pressing things.  
  
She had to talk to Hermione in private, but Hermione had been so preoccupied lately she didn't know how to broach the subject.  
  
"So anyway," Ron was saying loudly "I told him to stuff it or I' do it for him!" Ernie, Ron, Harry, and Luna all laughed loudly.  
  
Ginny looked over at Hermione and noticed the grimace on her face; it appeared that she had something on her mind as well.  
  
"I need to talk to you" Ginny mouthed out  
  
Hermione looked at her and back at Ron very quickly, "Bathroom" she mouthed back  
  
They both rose from the table and started toward the bathroom.  
  
"Where are you going?" Ron asked Hermione.  
  
"To the bathroom" she snapped "honestly Ron"  
  
"What? You can't go alone"  
  
Hermione was about to throw a scathing remark back at him, perhaps to tell him to permanently piss off but Ernie spoke before she could;  
  
"Oh you know they always travel in herds" he said winking at Ginny "leave 'em be"  
  
Hermione threw a smirk an uncharacteristic smirk at Ron, which reminded him dangerously of Draco Malfoy before stalking off after Ginny.  
  
"What was that all about?" Ginny asked her when they got to the bathroom.  
  
"What?" Hermione asked innocently  
  
"You know what." She said sternly "you and Ron"  
  
"Oh Gin," she sighed "you are more like your mother every day"  
  
"Oh come on Hermione, what is it?" she paused "is it Lucius Malfoy?" she said darkly  
  
"Among other things" she said half heartedly "stress, I'm getting my period in a few days to"  
  
"Oh" Ginny said, clearly not convinced  
  
"What did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked in concern  
  
"Well," Ginny said nervously "I think, well, I think that—"  
  
She was cut off by Luna walking into the bathroom.  
  
"Hello" she said before walking into a stall  
  
Hermione looked back at Ginny who shrugged.  
  
"You think that what?" Hermione asked  
  
Ginny did not answer, but looked pointedly at the stall.  
  
"Later" she mouthed  
  
A half an hour later Hermione pushed a heavy oak door open and stepped out into the alley way behind the pub.  
  
She rested her back against the wall and rubbed her temples with her fingers.  
  
She had to end it with Ron. There was just no getting around it, nothing else to do. She just couldn't stand it any longer.  
  
He had been caressing her thigh under the table when she had announced that she needed some fresh air.  
  
The October breeze sent chills and raised the goose flesh on her arms, but she did not care. She couldn't go back in there right now.  
  
The street light was pouring down from one side of the alley but the rest was lost in shadow, Like Draco.  
  
'Get a grip on yourself Granger!' she thought angrily, 'it's over, and you two are through!'  
  
And what was wrong with Ginny? She thought. But she already knew, Ginny was pregnant. She had seen it for a couple of weeks. And this was a dangerous time for a child.  
  
Would she and Ernie get married? Probably, he would keep her honest, and they were in love. Like she and Draco had been.  
  
Oh Draco, she thought.' Danmit!'  
  
She stayed there a moment more before straightening out her robes. If she stayed out here much longer Ron would come looking for her.  
  
She reached for the door handle when she heard the clearing of a throat.  
  
She whipped around terrified, these were dangerous times.  
  
Draco.  
  
He was emerging from a darkened corner of an alley way. There was no smirk on his face.  
  
"You bastard" she breathed  
  
"What?" he asked "I just came to tell you something"  
  
"Oh really?" she asked contemptuously "was it about the arranged marriage you didn't have the courage to tell me about?" cold fury rose in billows from her.  
  
Draco's jaw dropped, "how?" he sputtered "how did you know-?"  
  
"Ron's dad works for the ministry!" she shouted angrily "of course I know! But you thought you'd corner me in an alley way to tell me yourself before it reached the press, so you could save face, didn't you?!"  
  
"Hermione," he began "you know we're on different sides."  
  
"Yes," she said nastily "we are"  
  
"I did not anticipate my father's pardon; it is out of my hands"  
  
"Only because you allow it to be." She snapped  
  
"Look," he said "the reason I came here, I don't want to marry her,"  
  
"Really" Hermione said sarcastically  
  
"Runaway with me." He asked  
  
"What," she could not help but stare, what did he think he was playing at?  
  
"Please?"  
  
"Draco, I can't"  
  
His face fell.  
  
"Why?" he sneered "because you'd rather shag Weasley, don't think I don't know all about it!" he shouted "you couldn't even wait three weeks after we- "  
  
"Oh you mean like you did?!" she cut him off  
  
"That was different, I had little choice"  
  
"I am not discussing this with you Draco. We are through, you go your way and I'll go mine. We both fight for a different cause" And with that she turned around and marched back into the pub.  
  
When Hermione got back to the table Ron stood up to let her back to her seat.  
  
"What took you so long?" he asked, but she merely shrugged.  
  
Ginny watched as the rest of the night unfolded and pressed a hand to her abdomen.  
  
Harry looked sideways at Luna; marriage came to his mind over and over again.  
  
And Hermione chocked back tears, for the cause, she thought, for the cause.


	3. Nothing is fair in love and war

Chapter Two: Nothing is fair in Love and War  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for characters that I invented, of course, and by the by, this story is based on situations created by the marvelous J.K. (please don't sue me!)  
  
A/N: Thanks to my fantastical beta, Madam Celeste  
  
Harry sat in the dank kitchen; he did not want to be here. The very existence of this dwelling reminded him of Sirius, every wall, every rug, every arched ceiling.  
  
The curtains were partially drawn and a grey stormy light filtered in through the murky windows.  
  
Harry drummed his fingers absentmindedly on the table top. Remus was late, due to the storm. He was supposed to be bringing a ministry official to help raid the house for Sirius's will.  
  
There was nothing that Harry could possibly want here, everything he wanted, he had, just a box of Sirius's old school things.  
  
"Harry!" said a voice from behind him.  
  
Harry nearly jumped out of his seat as he spun around.  
  
"Neville?" he asked unbelievingly. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Oh," Neville said. "I'm here to help with the will," he stumbled as he took a seat. "Department of Magical Estate Business!" he beamed proudly.  
  
"Oh," Harry said, "where's Remus?"  
  
"Right here," Said a voice in the door way.  
  
Remus Lupin had just stepped in the kitchen, robes in slightly better condition, hair a little more grey than the last time Harry had seen him.  
  
"Harry," he said with a fatherly smile, "I thought we'd look in his mother's room first."  
  
"Yeah," Harry said gloomily, "that's a good idea."  
  
As the three of them walked along the corridors Remus attempted to make small talk with little avail.  
  
"So how's Luna?" he asked.  
  
Harry did not want to talk about Luna, he did not want to be here, and he did not want to read Sirius's will. He said nothing but merely shrugged.  
  
Thinking of Luna brought an unbidden sense of unease, just thinking about last week when he had seen the engagement ring in her purse. Is that what she wanted? To get married? Is that what he wanted?  
  
Well, yes, it was. He had always wanted the family that he had never had. But not now! These were dangerous times.....  
  
"Here we are," Remus was saying, ushering Harry and Neville inside.  
  
"Bit depressing, isn't it?" Neville asked.  
  
Harry nodded gravely, it certainly was depressing.  
  
Tattered old velvet curtains hung in the oversized window, dressers and wardrobes hung open, and rat bones littered the floor. Several boxes, with what looked like miscellaneous items and papers, were unceremoniously cast throughout the room.  
  
For the next two hours they overturned boxes and sifted through old birth certificates. But it seemed that anything that had belonged to Sirius was in one place.  
  
Over the next half hour Harry found even more useless documents, each one becoming more so.  
  
"Hey Harry!" Neville said excitedly. "I think I've found something!"  
  
Harry and Remus crouched down to the bit of carpet that Neville was occupying. Yes, he had found something, the thing, in fact.  
  
It was an old cigar box that had been enchanted to fit several large, official looking documents inside of it.  
  
"Yes, you have found something Neville," Remus said approvingly. "Let's take this downstairs."  
  
As they sat down at the table Neville looked tremendously excited. It was probably his first assignment, Harry thought mildly.  
  
Neville picked up the parchment importantly and began to read aloud;  
  
"'Will, Reading of the twenty first of November, year –,'"  
  
"Neville," Harry implored, "could you just skip ahead to the reading? Please?"  
  
Neville looked around nervously for a second, "Al-alright," he stuttered, "but I'm not supposed to, you know."  
  
"Thank you," Harry said.  
  
"I, Sirius Black, of sound, mind, and body, do hereby---,"  
  
"Neville?"  
  
"Sorry," he said quickly, before straitening out the parchment. "To my cousin Andromeda Tonks, I leave my gobstones collection,"  
  
"Ah," Remus said fondly, "I had nearly forgotten how much they used to play when we were in school... Oh, go on, Neville," he said.  
  
"To my Godson, Harry Potter, I leave my body and personal belongings, to include my wand, and trunk. And to my..." Neville trailed off, a perplexing look covered his round face.  
  
"What is it Neville?" Remus asked.  
  
Neville did not answer him, he merely handed him the parchment. Remus placed silver rimed bifocals on the bridge of his nose and looked at the will. His ash colored eyes widened in shock, his mouth hung slightly open.  
  
"My god," he muttered to himself "it was always assumed she had died with Veronica"  
  
"What?" Harry said,  
  
Remus didn't answer.  
  
"What is it?" he asked before grabbing the parchment out of his hands.  
  
"Wait Harry---," Remus started, but Harry had already read too much.  
  
"To my daughter, Cressinda Black, I leave my family house, Gringotts bank account, and house elf."  
  
"Daughter," he said slowly. "Harry..."  
  
"Daughter!?" he said this time, more loudly.  
  
"I tried to explain before---," Remus said.  
  
"Daughter!" Harry shouted.  
  
"Harry,"  
  
"Why didn't anyone---,"  
  
"Harry you don't---,"  
  
"How could you keep this from me?! How could---,"  
  
"Harry, listen to me!" Remus said sharply. "I can only imagine what you must be thinking. But believe me when I tell you that I didn't intend for you to hear it this way."  
  
"Hear what!" he demanded. "That Sirius had a daughter?!"  
  
Crash! Neville had just broken his tea cup in fright, but it was ignored.  
  
"Harry," Remus said patiently, "calm down and I will start from the beginning."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco lay exhausted on his four poster bed. Phaedra, his fiancée, lay next to him. Her chestnut hair fanned out on his silk sheets. Her conception potion lay an empty bottle on his night stand.  
  
His father had thought that a rather good idea, an early start on things.  
  
Her small breasts were barely concealed by the coverlet and he could see the imprint of her nipples through the sheet.  
  
He tried not to grimace, but it was hard. Yes, she was from a respectable pureblood family, pretty enough, but god was she an idiot!  
  
Well, in all reality she really wasn't stupid. But any one could seem stupid compared to-- 'Do not think about it,' he admonished, 'it's through, done. You finished it, remember?'  
  
"Draco?" Phaedra said. "Have you heard anything I've said?"  
  
"Sorry," he said, not meaning it at all, "I didn't."  
  
"What were you thinking about?" her tone was that of suspicion.  
  
"Nothing of significance," he all but sneered, he would have to watch his tone.  
  
"You were thinking about 'her' weren't you?" her voice was cracking.  
  
"Her who?" he replied trying to keep his face impassive. 'How did she know?!'  
  
"You know who!" she was close to tears. "One of the elves told me all about it!"  
  
"About what?" he was fighting down panic.  
  
"That mudbloo---,"  
  
"Phaedra," he snarled, "do not talk about things you do not understand!"  
  
"What's there to understand?!" she wailed. "That you were in love with a mudblood?!"  
  
She had clearly known about this for some time, otherwise she wouldn't have been quite so explosive or tearful. Her young body was racked with sobs, but it did not sate his fury or remove the fact that she had spoken about Hermione like-  
  
"Phaedra," he said grabbing her chin painfully, "you will never," his voice was dangerously calm, a deadly edge to it; "speak of this again."  
  
She sniffled but nodded fearfully  
  
"Not to me," he said, "not to anyone. Are we perfectly clear?"  
  
She nodded again, and he landed a bruising kiss on her cheek.  
  
He dressed very quickly and stormed down the hall at top speed. He was furious. He was going to find that house elf and 'Crucio!' it into the next century!  
  
He was nearly to the kitchen when he stopped short. He couldn't do it. The mere memory of her lingered; her bushy hair mussed with anger and her bossy voice was filling his ears, campaigning for S.P.E.W.  
  
'Hermione,' he thought desperately. He let his guard down for a split second and it was all over.  
  
There was an irritating sting in the corners of his eyes, tears gathered around his irises and pored over onto his cheeks.  
  
It was all too much to bear. Him, being forced to marry someone he couldn't stand, and Hermione, his Hermione, with Weasley.  
  
Why did it have to be this way? Why?  
  
He could not remember the last time he had cried, forever. Crying was punishable by lashings in his house as a child. It was a sign of weakness, no Malfoy is weak. But now, Draco did not care. Tears came in rivets down his pale cheeks  
  
'Hermione, Hermione.....'  
  
Ginny sat in the window seat of her flat, her legs curled underneath her, thinking.  
  
A book lay open next to her, but it had lost its pull sometime ago. What was she going to do?  
  
She was several weeks along by now; it had been confirmed by a muggle home pregnancy test she had nicked from Hermione's bathroom.  
  
She had to tell Ernie, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. It was full scale war by now, god, how could she have let this happen? And what's more, Ginny was nearly certain that Hermione suspected something.  
  
That morning before school she had told Hermione that she had a headache. And right before she was going to apparate, Hermione stopped her,  
  
_"You're not going to apparate are you?" she asked.  
  
"Yes," Ginny said, "why?"  
  
"No reason, it's just that in your condition it might make that headache worse..."  
  
_Now what had she meant by that? By 'your condition" did she mean her headache? Or was she alluding to...  
  
"Ginny?" said a sharp voice.  
  
She looked up to see Ernie standing in the door way of her room. She started to smile in spite of her worries, but stopped.  
  
He looked horrified, hurt, and angry.  
  
"What is it?" she asked suddenly.  
  
"Why don't you tell me?" he snapped.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Or maybe you can explain this!" he said brandishing a thin pink, plastic stick.  
  
Ginny felt her face drain, 'Oh god, he must have found it in my bathroom.' But how could he possibly know what it was?  
  
"Hermione let me in and I went to the bathroom..."  
  
"It's not," she started, numb with shock "how---,"  
  
"Don't tell me what it is and is not!" he shouted. "My dad is a muggle! I know what a home pregnancy test is!"  
  
"Oh god, Ernie, I was going to tell you today, I swear---,"  
  
"I am not ready to be a father!" he shouted, the anger in voice receding.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm not, Gin, we're at war. Don't you realize that? I can't be a parent..." he trailed off.  
  
"What's done is done," she said blankly. "You think I'm ready to a parent? It's not as though we can take it back Ernie."  
  
"We could," he said.  
  
"What are you talking about? No we can't, in case you've missed something; I'm already pregnant," she said squinting her eyes in irritation.  
  
"Yes we can, there are spells, potions you could take."  
  
"Ernie McMillan, don't you EVER speak of aborting our unborn child!" her red-headed temper had kicked in full throttle. She had never even THOUGHT of abortion, she was a Weasley. Her mother had borne seven children, even when they couldn't afford it.  
  
"Ginny, I want to be with you," he started. "I want marriage and children and a house, but not now. Not when there is so much life to live. Not when the war is in full scale."  
  
"Well, it's too late for second thoughts now!" she yelled pressing a hand to her still flat stomach. "This is our child! This---,"  
  
"No," he said plainly, "this is YOUR child."  
  
"What?" she said hoarsely.  
  
"I cannot be a father."  
  
"Get out," she whispered, pointing at the door.  
  
"Gin---,"  
  
"Out!" she shrieked.  
  
Ernie turned on his heal and stormed out the door and her life, not looking back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione hadn't been sleeping well. She had been having these reoccurring dreams about her and Draco when they were in school. The most frequent being the memory of their first tryst behind a tapestry, when they had been out after curfew.  
  
To double and triple her sleeplessness she had seen Ron earlier that day and things had not gone well.  
  
He was angry, and rightfully so, at her distantness lately. It had resulted in an explosive argument that left Hermione with a sick feeling that he may have figured out that it was something other than the war and school. Maybe even that it was him....  
  
And lastly, to add to her overwhelming anxiety, Ginny and Ernie had a row, and Hermione was sure by the muffled shouts that had come from Ginny's room, plus the finality of the door slamming, that he was not coming back.  
  
Hermione had a pretty good idea that Ginny had told him about her condition and he had not taken it well. It did often happen this way, of course. Ginny had probably told him, and because he's a guy, he probably had gone over the deep end about it.  
  
The young witch sighed and turned over in bed, pulling the covers with her. She wasn't willing to think of what was really bothering her. Of what plagued her nights and days, of what was inevitable and carried an overwhelming sorrow. Of what she had no control over. Of what was marrying someone else, starting a family with someone else...  
  
But as she drifted off into a fitful sleep her subconscious took control. And she floated uneasily into a memory.  
  
_It was very late and the castle loomed, shadowing the grounds. She needed to hurry; if she was caught emerging from the Forbidden Forest clutching illegal plants that she had just harvested in the moonlight, she was facing expulsion and possible prosecution.  
  
She quickened her step; Ron and Harry were going to owe her big-time for this one.  
  
The oak door slid quietly open, and her darkened-cloak-clad body slid inside. She shoved the herbs inside her cloak pocket, why hadn't she borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak?  
  
She was half way back to the common room when she heard it; the ominous mew of Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's wretched cat.  
  
Hermione's heart plummeted; she had a very limited time to get upstairs.  
  
She broke off in a sprint. She went past the library, up staircases, taking two steps at a time. She was going to be caught, she just knew it.  
  
She rounded a corner and her body connected with something very solid, and she looked up, expecting to see the gleeful face of Mr. Filch, but she did not. Standing in the corridor, the pale moonlight filtering in on his white blonde hair, was Draco Malfoy.  
  
A sneer spread across his pointed features, a malicious glint in his eyes.  
  
"Out a bit late, aren't we Granger?"  
  
"Sod off Malfoy," she hissed. "We're both out after curfew, and Filch is coming this way." She started to move past him but he stepped in front of her blocking the way.  
  
"Why are you in such a hurry Ganger?" he sneered.  
  
"I know you're unintelligent at best, Malfoy," she retorted, "but I didn't know you that you are completely suicidal as well!"  
  
"Well," he started smoothly, "you see Granger, I unlike you ---," he stopped mid-sentence.  
  
The distinct wheezing of the caretaker was huffing up a staircase at their left.  
  
A panic stricken look flooded her face. She was going to be expelled!  
  
It was too late for her to run, but she felt her arm being tugged and herself being pulled behind a tapestry.  
  
She landed pressed very close to Draco Malfoy. Her small breasts pushed into his chest, his finger pressing against her quivering lips.  
  
"Sniff 'round my sweet," came Filch's wheeze, "she could be anywhere."  
  
Her dread filled eyes looked up at Malfoy. But his eyes were not terror filled at all, on the contrary, they were a smoldering grey.  
  
Her breath hitched in the back of her throat.  
  
How could she have never noticed how handsome he was? Because he was, he really, really was.  
  
He grinned at her, not at all like a smirk, but a knowing grin.  
  
What WAS she doing?! His father had probably taught him Occlumency! He could probably read every thought she was thinking! Every dirty disgusting thing she would like him to do to her.  
  
Filch was gone by this time, and she started to pull away. But he caught her.  
  
"Going somewhere, Granger?" he whispered in her ear. The whisper held none of the usual malice he associated with her name.  
  
She looked up at him, lost for words. He was her arch nemesis, her greatest enemy, how could she ever possibly-  
  
But her thought was shaken, their eyes met. The hands that had seconds before lay limply at their sides joined, and their lips brushed. Softly, attentively, then, not soft at all. Instead it was fierce, bruising. Six years of pent up frustration pouring into one single, mouth crushing, kiss.  
  
Hands were every where, on the backs of necks, under bra cups, and eventually beneath knickers. Fondling, caressing, pinching, hands... It was every thing she had ever wanted, what she had craved.  
  
Everything...   
  
_Hermione sat straight up in bed. Sweat trickled down her spine and she lay awake until dawn, not daring to go back to sleep.


	4. All things in moderation

Disclaimer: Oh, Christ! If I owned Harry Potter why would I be writing fan fiction!  
  
Chapter Three: All Things in Moderation.  
  
A/N: This chapter contains detailed sexual content, and is a moderately hard R. You have been warned. And as always a huge hug for my one-of-a-kind beta, Madam Celeste

_He was running, if he ran any faster his legs would explode but he had to. The shouts of the Death Eaters were still behind him ringing in his ears.  
  
"Sirius, come back!" he shouted at the black dog.  
  
The trees shrouded Sirius so that he was very difficult to see. He ran faster through the woods, faster after Sirius. Sweat poured down Harry's face and obscured his vision.  
  
The shouts behind Harry were becoming louder now; they were gaining on him as he was gaining on Sirius.  
  
"Sirius, stop!" Harry shouted. But his throat was so raw that he himself couldn't make out what he was trying to say.  
  
Harry reached a hand up to wipe the sweat from his brow when he ran into something very solid, or rather someone.  
  
He crashed backwards to the ground. He looked up, expecting to see the masked face of a Death eater, but he did not.  
  
He stared at the familiar man in front of him for what must have been an eternity.  
  
The man stared back. His dark hair was untidy from running and he looked down on Harry as though he had never seen him before.  
  
Speech eluded Harry, what did he possibly have to say? He had wanted so much to speak to him but now that he was standing in front of him, he found that words were beyond anything that words could reach.  
  
He wanted desperately to ask him about Veronica, ask him all the things that Remus didn't know. He wanted to ask him about Cressinda, had he known her? Had he even known of her? There were so many questions that were escaping speech, so many, many, things.  
  
The man reached out to Harry, set his glasses straight, and smiled a sad smile; one that told Harry what it meant that he was here staring at him now and that it would be the last time.  
  
"Your eyes are so much like your mother's," he said at last.  
  
"I miss you," Harry said lamely.  
  
"I know," He ran a hand through his disheveled hair.  
  
"You have to know something Harry, I never meant for it to be this way. I love you, Harry. But now you have to run." Harry could hear the Death Eaters approaching,  
  
"Run!" the older man shouted.  
  
"I love you," Harry said blankly.  
  
"I love you too, son," James said tightly.  
  
Harry ran, and as he ran he could hear his father fighting them off. And a bright green light illuminated the forest, and there was a terribly cold and high laugh...  
_  
Harry sat straight up in bed. He had been having an awful dream. He had dreamt of his father and Sirius again, for the first time in almost three years.  
  
He walked silently to the bathroom and drank water straight from the tap before climbing shakily back into bed.  
  
It was just past dawn, and Harry could hardly contemplate going back to sleep. He lay back against his headboard just thinking.  
  
Thinking about Sirius and the life he never knew that he had. The conversation he had with Remus was rushing back at him.  
  
_"Harry," he had said, "did Sirius ever mention a woman named Veronica to you?"  
  
Harry just shook his head.  
  
"Never?" Remus asked.  
  
Another shake of his head.  
  
"Well, then, I'll just start right from the beginning," He shifted in his chair in the kitchen to make himself more comfortable, and continued on.  
  
" After we left Hogwarts, roughly three years before you were born, dangerous times were approaching, Harry. We were out numbered by Voldemort's Death Eaters, you didn't dare get friendly with anyone, it just wasn't safe. So it was a surprise to all of us that Sirius had found himself a girlfriend. Veronica, beautiful girl. She was a bit younger than Sirius, but he didn't care," Remus smiled sadly.  
  
"Well, to make a long story short, Sirius and Veronica were married not long after they met. Maybe three months. And no one could understand why until some months later when Veronica was visibly pregnant. Now, I'm only repeating to you what other members of the Order have told me, because Sirius and I had a falling out shortly after they announced Veronica's pregnancy.  
  
"But it came out that Veronica's reputation was not sterling," he swallowed. "Her parents were Death Eaters, or at least Voldemort sympathizers." Lupin paused and drank a sip of his tea.  
  
"You see, Harry, she was Professor Snape's sister." Harry's eyes widened in shock.  
  
"SNAPE!" he said loudly, causing Neville who was still in the room to drop his third tea cup.  
  
"Yes," said Lupin tiredly, "and obviously you know how Sirius felt about Severus, so it is needless to say that Sirius was less then pleased. As was Severus when he became aware of her marriage to Sirius," He paused in a sort of anticipation, unsure to go on or not.  
  
"Harry," he said heavily, "do you know of how it came to be that Severus became a spy for us?"  
  
Harry shook his head, his mind reeling from this new found information.  
  
"At the time that he found out about his sister's marriage he was still in Voldemort's ranks, still a Death Eater. And I'm sure you remember how well Sirius and he got along in school, how much resentment Snape felt towards him, how he loathed him...  
  
"You must remember Harry that this was before he came to our side. But Snape felt betrayed when he found out. So Snape waited, he's a very patient man, and he chose to get even with the pair of them shortly after you were born." Remus poured himself some more tea and continued.  
  
"He informed Voldemort of two people who were vehemently against his cause, two people who believed in muggle loving, and he convinced Voldemort that these two people were a great threat to him. He told them about Sirius's involvement in the Order. Well, Voldemort, naturally, ordered their deaths.  
  
"So Snape arranged the attack. One night in August, the August before your parents were killed, Snape and six other Death Eaters apparated outside the house that Sirius and Veronica were living in...." he trailed off.  
  
"Go on," Harry said hoarsely, "I need to know."  
  
"Very well," Remus said, "when Severus and the other Death Eaters entered the house it was said that they killed Veronica and two-year old, Cressinda. It was also told to me that in an attack of conscience, Severus saved Sirius by saying that he wasn't in the house.  
  
"I had always believed this to be the 'great personal risk' that he had taken when becoming a spy. But now I realize that he must have also saved Cressinda as well."  
  
"But if you haven't seen or heard from her in all these years, how do know that she wasn't killed? And if she wasn't, why's she been hiding all this time?" Harry asked quickly.  
  
"I know she's alive, Harry, because of this will," Seeing the confusion on Harry's face he explained. "Magical contracts, typically wills, become void after the death of the beneficiary, which doubled with the fact that this was written only three years ago, tells us that Sirius knew she was still alive.  
  
"And as to the matter of her hiding, I assume that Sirius must have placed her in the care of some Canadian friends of Veronica's."  
  
"But---," began Harry, "why Canada? Isn't that a little far away? Why not somewhere in Europe?"  
  
"Voldemort has Death Eaters fanned out through Europe. Canada and western America are a little out of his reach. It just so happens to be that Veronica had some school friends that lived in Canada."  
  
_Harry was pulled out of his memory by a sharp tapping noise.  
  
"What the---,"he looked over at the window and discovered the source of said noise.  
  
Hedwig, his owl, was tapping loudly at his window, a letter tied to her leg. Harry rose instantly to let her in and was rewarded by a sharp jab of her beak. Apparently, she had been tapping for some time before he had noticed her. As he untied the letter she soared off with a screech and into the other room which held her cage.  
  
'Hello Harry, dear,  
  
I hope it isn't too early to owl you, but I could scarcely wait. Remus has contacted Cressinda and she's coming to London tonight! We're having a special dinner for her at headquarters and I sincerely hope you'll join us.  
  
Love,  
  
Molly  
  
PS. She's agreed to let us use  
YOU KNOW WHERE as headquarters!'  
  
Harry rolled up the parchment. Dinner with the Order, and Cressinda...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Percy Weasley hung his cloak on a peg in the hall. He felt incredibly uncomfortable here.  
  
He had only come to Headquarters once before almost three years ago. After the Ministry announced He Who Must Not Be Named was back. It was only a brief dinner with Ron's friend Harry, the boy hero, and Ron's little girlfriend.  
  
He could hear voices down the hall in the kitchen. By the sounds of it not everyone had arrived. He didn't know whether or not to be pleased about this. Relations with his family had been strained ever since that row he had with his father a few years ago.  
  
He was not quick to forget about it; neither were his six siblings, or the Order.  
  
He drew closer to the door, pompously squared his shoulders and strutted through.  
  
"Oh Moody," his father was saying, "Mundungus' heart is always in the right place, but I think he---,"  
  
He had just noticed Percy.  
  
"Percy, son," he said shaking his shoulder, "how was work?"  
  
"Fine," Percy said awkwardly.  
  
"Good, good," He said as though he didn't notice, "Moody and I were just discussing---,"  
  
"Oh, Percy!" wailed his mother, who had just entered the room. She hurled straight at him and hugged tightly around the middle. "I'm so pleased you could make it!"  
  
"As am I Mother," Percy nodded.  
  
Over the next hour and a half Percy sat at the kitchen table stiffly in forced conversation with Mad Eye Moody, a highly unseated Auror, and his father. They greeted people as they came in, very quietly of course, so they wouldn't wake Mrs. Black.  
  
Percy met a number of people that he would pretend not to know later if they came up to him on the street. His parents certainly had little taste in friends.  
  
"Percy," his father started, "have you met Luna Lovegood?"  
  
Percy looked up to see a large eyed, batty looking girl, who was wearing a sarong over her muggle skirt with an aqua cloak over that.  
  
"How do you do?" Percy said politely.  
  
"Oh, you know," she said vaguely.  
  
"Luna," Author began, "is Harry's girlfriend."  
  
Percy nodded, which is sort of a habit of his now.  
  
"Speaking of Harry," Moody was saying gruffly, "where is he? I thought he was coming."  
  
"Oh," said Molly, "he owled me saying he'd be a little late," she paused. "You know, I think the poor dear has been under so much strain lately. It'll be a wonder if doesn't end up in Saint---,"  
  
CRASH!  
  
It sounded as though something very heavy and breakable had exploded right outside the door.  
  
"Blood traitors! Half bloods!" came an awful, shrill voice. "Be gone from here, leave!" wailed the voice.  
  
Percy and the rest of the kitchen were standing and moving towards the door. His mother and Mad Eye moved swiftly through it.  
  
"Oh Tonks!" he heard his mother saying. "I thought it might be you. Come in the kitchen we're only waiting for a few more---,"  
  
CRACK  
  
"AHH! FRED! GEORGE!" she bellowed.  
  
"Vermin! Desecraters of my home! Leave this place, the Noble and most ancient---,"  
  
"Moody?!" came Molly's voice.  
  
"Mudblood swine!"  
  
"Can you put the curtain over her?"  
  
A second later the horrid voice was gone.  
  
It sounded as though Percy's menacing twin brothers had just apparated in front of her.  
  
"You two just go in the kitchen!" she said angrily. "I want to show Tonks something upstairs."  
  
Percy barely had time to groan, for the twins were bounding through the kitchen door. They stopped short at the sight of Percy, and both did a kind of double take before nodding briefly.  
  
"Fred, George," Percy said snippily.  
  
"Hey Perce," said George.  
  
But before Fred could mutter his own forced hello the door opened again.  
  
"Hello everyone," said the voice of Remus Lupin. "I would like you to meet Cressinda Black." A young woman walked through the door; she had to be close to Percy's age.  
  
She was tall and willowy, her russet hair was shoulder length, and her eyes were a violent shade of indigo.  
  
"Hello," she said in an accent that Percy could not quite identify.  
  
The kitchen door swung open once more.  
  
Percy's mother walked through beaming and let out a tiny squeak when she spotted Cressinda.  
  
"Oh, Cressinda!" she exclaimed. "How very pleased I am to meet you!" she wrung Cressinda's hand.  
  
"Hello," Cressinda said again in her strange accent, "you must be Molly. Remus has told me all about you."  
  
"Have you met everyone yet?" Cressinda shook her head. "Oh well," and she was off with introductions.  
  
First, Mad Eye Moody, then, the twins who were eying her lecherously, then, Luna Lovegood, and so on  
  
But Percy wasn't paying very close attention to the introductions; he was staring at the woman who had walked in after his mother.  
  
He had seen her around the ministry, though he barely knew her. He supposed that she was the girl his mother had referred to as "Tonks".  
  
Her hair he had so often seen bubble gum pink and shorter than his own was long today. It had a short amount of wave to it and was startlingly the color of wine.  
  
Her beautiful brown eyes scanned the room and rested on Percy.  
  
"You must be Percy," she said extending her hand.  
  
"Y-yes," he breathed shaking her hand briefly.  
  
"I've seen you around the Ministry," she said brightly. "I'm Tonks."  
  
He nodded, not knowing what else to do. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.  
  
"How---," he began, "how did you do that? With you hair?"  
  
"Oh," she laughed, reaching a hand up to her breast length locks, "I'm a metamorphmagus."  
  
His eyes widened slightly. He had read about that before, but had never met one, they were very rare...  
  
"Hey," she said sharply, "didn't we go to school together?"  
  
"Had we?" Percy thought vaguely. He couldn't remember a Tonks from Hogwarts.  
  
"Yeah," she said, "yeah we did. But I was a few years ahead of you, and in a different house."  
  
"Oh," he said lamely.  
  
"Oh, Percy, dear," Molly said, "dinner's almost on the table."  
  
He didn't get another chance to speak to her at dinner, and no one really spoke to him much.  
  
It wasn't until much later that night that he saw her quite by mistake.  
  
He walked into The Leaky Cauldron feeling decidedly depressed. He had refused all offers to spend the night at headquarters, saying he needed to get to bed early. Seeing Harry Potter and his dynamic twin brothers made him feel uneasy.  
  
Percy chose a bar stool and sat down with a huff before ordering a glass of Port.  
  
He rested his head in his hands, Tonks...  
  
He had never been good at talking to women. In fact, he had only had one girlfriend in his entire life, Penelope Clearwater, and that had ended catastrophically when he had broken up with her to pursue his career in the Ministry. Come to think of it, he still had the scar from where she had thrown a very large text book at him.  
  
"_Ahem_."  
  
He jumped slightly before turning to his left. It was her.  
  
Tonks was sitting on stool to his left, a playful smile resting on her soft mouth.  
  
"Going to bed early, eh?" she said lightly.  
  
"Tonks," he said, "I-I didn't expect to see you here. Do-you do you, I mean to say," he paused, gathering what was left of his dignity. "do you come here often?"  
  
"No," she laughed, "not really."  
  
"Ah," he said, "I see."  
  
"Do I make you uncomfortable, Percy?" she asked frowning.  
  
"Yes," he said suddenly. "I mean, no." Oh, this was not going well. "What I mean is---," not well at all, "I, er, I don't----I love you." There, he had said it. The thing he had been thinking all night, and it had just come stumbling out of his normally pompous mouth.  
  
He covered his mouth with his hand. Love? Did he even believe in love, or at least, love at first sight?  
  
Her eyes widened. There was no turning back now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ginny and Hermione sat at their makeshift kitchen table. A large pot of lukewarm tea sat in between them.  
  
Tears were spilling down Ginny's cheeks in pools.  
  
"And-and-and then," Ginny sobbed incoherently. "he s-said that it was MY child, and t-that he couldn't be a f-father."  
  
Hermione sat open mouthed. She had suspected that Ginny had told him about her pregnancy but never did she dream that he would abandon her and their child.  
  
"Oh, Gin," she said softly, "have you heard from him since? It's been three weeks; I mean, maybe he's come to grips with it."  
  
"N-no," sniffed Ginny, "He won't answer my owls, he just keeps sending them back unopened."  
  
"That useless whelp," Hermione said angrily.  
  
"And he said that he couldn't be a father because we're in the middle of a war!" she wailed. "I'm going to be a single mother! And I have no money at all! And I'm afraid!"  
  
"Oh, Ginny," Hermione said sympathetically, "He'll have to pay child support won't he?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Child support," Hermione said pouring her some tepid tea.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Child support, it's where if one parent raises a child then the other parent has to give them a set amount of money each month."  
  
"Hermione," Ginny said seriously, "I think that's only in the muggle world."  
  
"You mean the Ministry doesn't have anything to ensure single parents!?"  
  
"No," Ginny said, "that's why it's so hard for single parents 'Mione!"  
  
"Why don't you go and stay with your parents, Gin, your Mum loves babies," she said helpfully.  
  
"Oh no, Hermione," she hiccupped. "I couldn't, it just-just-just," she dissolved into noisy tears.  
  
Hermione rubbed her shoulder soothingly, but she knew that nothing could console her now.  
  
A baby, a war-time baby...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tonks stared in disbelief.  
  
She could not believe what he had just said. Love...  
  
He loved her?  
  
She could not deny her attraction towards him, she had seen him around work, changed the path to her office even just so she could glimpse that Weasley hair of his.  
  
Without thinking, Tonks leaned in towards him and pressed her mouth into his so hard that she knocked his glasses right off his face.  
  
He was startled beyond all recognition.  
  
Her soft, soft mouth was on his.  
  
He had never had a kiss like that. Ever.  
  
He brought a hand up around her waist and relaxed into her sweet kiss.  
  
Two hours later, they were still kissing. But they were no longer in The Leaky Cauldron; they were in Percy's bedroom, in his flat.  
  
Tonks had a glass of wine in one hand and Percy's face in the other.  
  
Percy himself was very nearly drunk.  
  
He slid an unskilled hand through the opening in her robes. She wasn't wearing a bra.  
  
His mind reeled, never had he been with a woman. How many men had she been with?  
  
But suddenly it seemed that he did not care. A pure, natural, primitive instinct over took him. He took the glass of wine she was holding and threw it backwards onto the fire place.  
  
He heard it break on the hearth but he could care less, which was really saying something because his life revolved around order and tidiness.  
  
She gasped. Her breath was becoming shallow.  
  
The wine was certainly having an unexpected affect on his inhibitions, for he found that he didn't have any. With one semi fluid motion he bent down and swung her up into his arms.  
  
Five minutes later, he was enjoying the feel of her thighs straddling his stomach as she blew and pressed her perfect mouth to his neck.  
  
A low moan escaped her throat.  
  
And Percy found that clothes were no longer necessary, and that buttons were a pain in the arse. And that her breasts were everything that was perfect. And that sex was wonderful.  
  
And the most wonderful part was the next morning when he discovered what it felt like to have her curled up next to him. Her wonderfully supple body rising and falling in sleep, and his heart swelled with love that he did not know was possible.


End file.
